Bellini, Vincenzo (1801-35), Italian composer, born in Catania,
Sicily, and trained at the Conservatory of Music, Naples. The premiere of his
first opera, Adelson e Salvini, in 1825, attracted Domenico Barbaja, the
director of the San Carlo Opera, Naples, and La Scala, Milan. Barbaja
commissioned Bellini to compose Bianca e Gernando for San Carlo in 1826 and Il
Pirata for La Scala in 1827. Both operas were very successful, as were La
Straniera (The Stranger, 1829) and I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830). In 1831 the
premieres of two of Bellini's most famous operas, La Sonnambula (The
Sleepwalker) and his masterpiece, Norma, brought him international fame. These
operas were followed in 1833 by the less successful Beatrice di Tenda and in
1835 by his final work, I Puritani. Bellini was a meticulous craftsman. He
composed for singers who were masters of bel canto, a singing style stressing
vocal agility and precision. He was highly sensitive to the relation between
text and music, and his operas gain their greatest dramatic impact through his
melodies, which are often admired for a characteristic concentrated beauty.